I am getting really interested in Austrian economics and I was wondering what one could do with a master or p.H.D in Austrian economics.
It is offered by George Mason University (GMU).
You can write a blog.
Learn it in your free time and do a “real” job while spreading the truth.
Short-Version: Becoming an entrepreneur would be what I would advocate. The PHD is not going to automatically you work, you’ve got work the PHD.
Blog (to help get feedback on your own thoughts, network with other’s views, further your arguments, & most importantly, allows you to practice writings in a public sphere. Even better is to eventually promote it heavily, or find some way of monetizing it to garner some bonus income, purley because at this point, you can, but to also increase your profile & reputation).
Papers, articles, columns, etc. - Blog is good practice for this, methinks. This would move your activity into a more mainstream sphere of exposure. This is where the PHD comes most handidly, in that your will not automatically be turned away or shouted at due to credentials. You studied long enough to get a PHD, so obviously you must know something.
Even better would be to get a column somewhere online or offline, that isn’t specifically economically related, but allows to riff off of your economic theory (austrian econ, assumingly) in a subtle way that helps give your writing that extra oomph of content & personality.
I could see politics being an easy subject to do such with (especially since you would earn brownie points regardless criticizing both Dems & Repubs from the readers, & even any editors who may be pressured to not lean one way or another politically, ocassionally).
Another would be reviewing movies (which is a highly subjective subject where a good deal of inference of entertainment can make for nice situations to occasionally slip in an austrian econ opinion or concept, such as analyzing the concept of justice in a given movie).
There are probably more strategies & things that could be done, but the main point is to not stay relegated to your social circles, & infect state-society & culture. This could mean anything from as small as a blog to an undetaking as big as getting positions in far more mainstream educational insitituions, & subtly spreading dissenting information to the next graduating class.
We need more Peter Schiffs. People who can talk to the average Joe and teach them the principles of AE in a manner that reflects their immediate desire to profit, not strictly as a dispassionate intellectual enterprise.
Schiff has reached millions of people with very plain rhetoric.
While research is valuable, it increases in value when it is implemented.
None of those things are really going to earn money though.
What could I do with a regular masters degree in economics?
Peter Schiff makes money. Plenty of it.
I assume you could teach at a college. Or everything below that like drive a taxi and flip burgers.
If you want to make money, don’t get a degree.
Schiff inherited his business from his father. That’s not advice you can give to someone looking for a future.
Inherited? Are you sure man? His father has spent half his life behind bars
Get a job as an economist for a corporation, hedge fund, investment company, etc.
Schiff did not inherit Europac.
Just to clarify, there’s no such thing as a Ph.D. in Austrian economics. GMU has a Ph.D. economics program. You still have to do the core: micro, macro, and econometrics. Then you specialize in 2-3 fields. GMU is different in that you can specialize in AE, among other things (e.g. Constitutional, Industrial organization, Institutions and Development, Law and economics, Monetary theory, Public choice, Public finance.)
Really, the only point in getting a Ph.D. is to go into academia. If you don’t want to be an academic, you don’t need a Ph.D. (a masters is fine for consulting, think tanks, etc.).
For more on career strategy, check out these great lectures:
Future Directions of Austrian Economics - Peter Boettke
The Vocational Economist - Peter Klein